A nonprofit created to back Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s policies is shutting down only nine months after it launched.
Our Time NYC, which was founded by Mamdani’s allies, sought to harness the grassroots energy of his campaign. Organizers said Our Time members would knock on doors and make calls in support of signature Mamdani efforts like taxing the rich and universal childcare. But from the outset, Our Time faced competition from the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America, the mayor’s political base, and later, the Mayor’s Office of Mass Engagement.
“It was not an original idea and it is not an original outcome,” said Matt Wing, a Democratic strategist. “At the end of the day, being a part of a campaign is far more fun than being part of advocacy for an issue.”
A board member at Our Time NYC told Gothamist on Wednesday that the group would be “winding down.”
More than 650 people joined Our Time’s first “mass call” in December.
Batul Hassan, an Our Time board member, said the group’s policy victories included universal childcare, a pied-à-terre tax and a rent freeze.
"We launched Our Time nearly one year ago with one mission: to keep the wind in the sails of the movement backing the Affordability Agenda,” Hassan said in a statement. “While the organization is ending, the movement that won these victories is still here and growing.”
The news of Our Time’s demise comes months after a staffing exodus that led Our Time’s board to announce the organization was “in a moment of pausing.”
The group currently has no staffers. Jesse Myerson, who was the last remaining employee, told Gothamist he is no longer employed with the organization.
Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for Mamdani, declined to comment.
Our Time’s most high-profile event was a “Tax the Rich” rally in Albany earlier this year. Mamdani did not attend and turnout was smaller than organizers had hoped.
Nonprofits like Our Time are not generally required to disclose their donors. But it did disclose seven donors who gave over $1,000, including Leah Hunt-Hendrix, a wealthy heir to the Hunt family oil fortune who cohosted a fundraiser for Mamdani last year.
Similar political organizations have faced significant legal and political challenges. Former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s allies launched the Campaign for One New York to support his policies. But it closed after coming under federal investigation over its fundraising practices. Former President Barack Obama’s nonprofit Organizing for America was criticized for being ineffective and undermining local Democratic Party organizations.
